High School

Date for NVL swim showdown up in air By JOHN TORSIELLORepublican-American

Waterbury, CT-17 January 2012-011712CM10- Holy Cross' Joe Buderwitz competes in the back stroke during the 200 yard IM at Kennedy High School in Waterbury Tuesday night. Buderwitz took first in the event. Christopher Massa Republican-American

Some of the pep had gone out of Sacred Heart swim coach Ray Snyder's attitude earlier this week concerning his team's big Naugatuck Valley League meet with Holy Cross scheduled for this Friday at Kennedy High School. You could hear it in his voice and he admitted as much.

"Right now (Tuesday night), I'm not feeling optimistic that the meet is going to be held," said Snyder, whose team and the Crusaders are undefeated in the NVL. "I've heard rumors that Kennedy's parking lot hasn't had one shovel full of snow removed from it. And we don't know the condition of the pool. It definitely takes away some of the excitement that we should feel for the meet."

Sacred Heart hasn't been in the pool since last Friday, the day before a blizzard dumped over two feet of snow on the area and made roads impassable in many areas for days. Snyder said school had been cancelled until at least Thursday.

"I know it was a lot of snow but what are we going to do, miss a whole week of school from a storm that ended last Saturday? It's a tough situation but we're all the same boat. I'm just not very confident the meet with Holy Cross is going to be held Friday night and I don't know when it will be."

Snyder, whose team is going for its third straight NVL championship and has won three out of the last four Class S state titles, said the possibility of holding the Holy Cross meet this weekend has been brought up. But that move would necessitate some maneuvering and permission from several sources.

The CIAC has already said that in light of the burden the storm has placed on scheduling, events may be held on Sundays in order to finish the regular season before state tournament time.

"It's also tough on the kids and their preparation for the NVL's, which starts next week, and the states," said Snyder. "Their training has been disrupted and this is a time of year when we typically start tapering down for the big meets."

BL race

It should be a great finish to the Berkshire League season.

Northwestern has a leg up on Shepaug after beating the Spartans in their first meeting this year. The Highlanders are unbeaten in the BL and face Shepaug — which is trying to regain the league title it lost last season after six straight championships — on Feb. 20.

"We have a large team, 60 swimmers and divers," said Northwestern head coach Mary DiMauro. "Our team should do well in the Girls Splash meet on Feb. 23 and at the BL championships."

"Our team has a lot of depth and should do very well in the big meets. We have a great group of kids who have tremendous spirit and sportsmanship."

bubble wrap

Cheshire was 8-4 in its first 12 meets and is facing the prospects of swimming every meet on the road for the rest of the season after the bubble over the school's pool collapsed last week.

"We are road warriors again," said head coach Fran Connolly.

"We have a team that is made up of two-thirds freshmen and they are very promising," said the head coach. "We have three divers being led by new dive coach Matt Milano — Matt D'Andrea, Sal Delucia, and Garrison Harte — and they are all making good progress as first-time divers "

Cheshire's best wins have come against Notre Dame and Naugatuck. "We still need to face Southern Connecticut Conference rivals Xavier and Branford," said Connolly

Top performers have been Karl Bishop in the freestyle events,

Kyle Shadeck in the IM, butterfly and backstroke, and Mike Goodrich in the sprints and breaststroke. All are freshmen.

Three junior tri-captains, Brian Johnson (backstroke and 50-free), Jon Qian (breaststroke and IM/distance), and Patrick Morley (breaststroke/IM/500-free) have also shined.

"New assistant swim coach Kim Christensen, a teacher at Cheshire High, has been doing a great job and is a welcome addition to the staff," said Connolly.

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